Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Comments by Oli Welsh

I'm not very objective when it comes to MGS. This will probably be the best game I ever play. I have spent more time watching the trailers of MGS than playing some other games. Great preview.

I don't think I've ever met someone in real live who likes MGS and I've tried too many times to show of new consoles with Metal Gears (and got the meh reaction) to care what haters say anymore. The MGS series makes me feel eight years old and I love it.

But I understand how it can bore the hell out of people. I've seen it allot.

And that youtube link is amazing!

MGS4 and GTAIV... will fight in a league of they'r own for the game of the year title, nothing can even touch them. In the graphics department, from what i've seen, Killzone 2 will be the best. I can't wait for these beasts.

@zuljin

Mate you started with the wrong one, that is all that I can say. MGS3 gives you a lot more if you played the previous ones. I think this is true for all MGS games, minus the original of course. Feeling and story wise I think MGS3 was probably the most rewarding MGS on the PS2. Although I think MGS gameplay mechanics work better in a MGS1/2 environment, thus making some of the jungle areas a bit difficult to navigate. I think subsistence solved most of this, but I'm not sure since I haven't tried it myself.

I,m surprised that there arent so many trolls bashing the game, they must reporting for duty somewhere else.

I love it how trolls accuse others of been 'subjective', 'Biased' and 'fanboys'. when all these criteria actually describes them. watching a troll accusing others of been 'fanboys'....its just laughable.

What do you people desire from a game ? i,m having a problem understanding this.

-A good single-player experience ? A good Multi-player experience ?

-Quality visual graphics ? Quality artistic look ?

-A fun feeling ? A tragic feeling ?

If you,r not into story driven games, then this may not be the game for you. the market is already filled with button-mashing 'no-brain need' games. you can always get one of those.

If your the type of gamer who play games in order not to think, as opposed to gamers who play to think, then this may not be for you.

Hmmmmmmmmm

The MGS make me feel strange.

I love them one minute hate them the next but either way I've preordered already.

If this is shit so help me god EG I will launch a nuclear barage at you!

@madlax
"If your[sic] the type of gamer who play games in order not to think, as opposed to gamers who play to think, then this may not be for you. "

It's just too talky and weird at times. But nobody questions the quality. If it clicks then it's no doubt a wonderful game.

"MGS2 wasted many of my gaming sessions just sitting there watching some weird shite that made no sense, but with your next objective spoken in one or two lines of dialogue, so that if you skip the cutscene you have to trial and error to find out what you're doing."

That breaks one of my pet rules. Which is;

I should always be able to skip cutscenes AND I should still know what I have to do after I have skipped the cutscene.

At any time in a game I should be able to remind myself of my current objective. If a cutscene mentions that objective and gives it context, ace. But it should not be the only place the information is presented.

@Kangarootoo

The saving grace and the only thing that allowed me to get through MGS 1, 2 and 3 was that after the cut scenes you got the 2 line brief. If I had to rely on the cut scene to tell me what to do I'd have given up. Not out of annoyance but, purely because I can admit that I wouldn't have had a clue what to do next. MGS1 on PS3 is a good example of that. When they go on about the germs and the virus and the war and stuff (I presumed they were on about fox die). I sat through that and thought "Huh!"

"I even quite liked Raiden,in fact it was only until I saw the venomous bandwagon of hate online from Snake-chasers before I realised there were so many people who like guns and macho stuff but also cry like babies when they don't get a game perfectly tailorred to them. They cry a lot."

The people that ranted on about Raiden are just insecure kids, who find the subject of their own sexuality troubling and confusing due to the torrent of pubescent hormones coursing through their veins. The sort of kids that think "gay" is the best insult you can level at something, not least because it obviously confirms to everyone watching just how straight they really are themselves (which is of course the very most important thing in the life of your average 12 year old).

A fair portion of the rest of the populace, consisting of rounded human beings with no major insecurity complexes to speak of, just wonder why they are making such a song and dance of it all.

Here is a lesson for all kids who rant about Raiden. No one thought you were gay until you started rattling on so vehemently for hours on end about how you are so totally completely not gay and how you hate Raiden because he might be (because he has good hair, or something, I never quite understood it all myself). Then they wondered why you were making such an unsolicited fuss about it.

@penhalion

Man, but the time I got to the end of MGS2 I had no bloody clue waht was going on, 'cos I'd been skipping cutscenes like an olympiad for the last 3rd of the game.

Can't quite remember how I behaved whilst playing MGS1. I think I might have watched all the cutscenes, but got busy on the square button everytime one of those ridiculous radio conversations took place (my mind has gone blank on the proper name for them).

@Kangerootoo

Do you have nice hair?

@warzin

I wish. I don't really have any hair to speak of :'(

@Arbiter

I'm sure its not a serious point, but Cartman is kind of written to make fun of excatly the kids I am describing. I love SouthPark, so don't think I don't get it or disapprove. Comedy is the best vehicle to take the edge off something and allow people to accept it (or to discuss un-pc views for that matter). Grumpy ranting on the web by MGS fans is not.

I'm no saint mind. I was the same at 14 I'm sure, thats adolesence for you I suppose. Its just that eventually I realised that...

1. It doesn't actually matter to me if someone is gay or not.
2. Girls will fancy me more if I stop acting like it DOES matter.

"If you,r not into story driven games, then this may not be the game for you. the market is already filled with button-mashing 'no-brain need' games. you can always get one of those."

Being spoon fed your enterainment is using your brain now? Must run off to watch hollyoaks and stock up on the smarts.

On the subject of stories in games. I for instance, was one of the people who complained that Doom 3 didn't have a story to make me want to kill stuff. I'm also a person who still praises the last level of Doom 3 for being out and out fun (why wasn't the rest of the game like that?).

I love being drawn into a story and just experiencing it. I liked Advent Rising for instance and was disappointed that they didn't get to make the whole trilogy. Equally I sometimes just need to destroy stuff mindlessly. The Prince of Persia (original not remake or sands of time) had me captivated for weeks. You had an hour or something like that, to complete the game and every death lost you time. You had to have fast reactions and genuine skill at spotting a trap while legging it at full pelt towards a gap in the floor.

I was going to make some point but, it's ended up just being that I miss games like that :-(

Metal Gear is Metal Gear, it does its own thing and it is what its is. Cutscenes and all the dialogue have always been one of the methods of delivering its story and its been like that for a very long time. I'm looking forward to it because *I* know that for me it is a series thats enjoyable. The point is, if you never really liked the series before chances are that you may never like it (stop bitching about it, we get it, you hate cutscenes, you hate metal gear etc...). Also to people comparing metal gear's method of storytelling to that of half-life; there is room for all types of different storytelling methods within gaming. It does not need to be one or the other for every game.

Metal Gear Solid alway's presented the best plot and narrative ever seen in video games, there is a lot of drama and character exploration in what concerns moral, intentions, background, even life in general is aborded by a phylosofical/constructive prespective, war, frienship, ambitions, good and evil... it's amazing.

@Apologie:

Ha Ha Ha Ha!!! You crazy bastard!!!!

@Apologie

"...is aborded by a phylosofical/constructive prespective, war, frienship..."

My thoughts exactly. Do you have nice hair too?

Intelligent. Cinematic. Stylish. This should be one of the rare games that live up to the potential videogames have to offer. Not Gears of War, not Devil May Cry 4, not Ninja Gaiden (pretty much good games; horrible writing, all three of them)- this one has class, it is sophisticated, much like Sons of Liberty and Final Fantasy VII.

"Sorry, give me Halo over Half Life any day, at least you feel like you're part of some cinematic experience."

True, I think, although one could possibly argue about which one offers more depth.



"Sad because they've not mentioned any DVD controls for the anim...cutscenes.

MGS2 wasted many of my gaming sessions just sitting there watching some weird shite that made no sense, but with your next objective spoken in one or two lines of dialogue, so that if you skip the cutscene you have to trial and error to find out what you're doing.

Stupid - selling just to the hardcore with no life to live or with loads of time to entertain game's bullshit. "

Stupid - you are indeed.

/wonders how many of the people saying they hate MGS would suddenly have a change of heart if a 360 port was announced.

I've not played Halo 3, but I liked the way Halo sucked you gradually into the war and desperate flight from Earth. Then having the slap bang awesomeness to flip the perspective on who the actual bad guys were by introducing the Flood to it. Also like Halo 2's flip between the Arbiter and Master Chief.... gave a bit of perspective to the 'enemy' to show that they weren't some generic one sided foe who are after good old mankind 'just because'. Always felt there was something pulling me on and on through the game, there was a reason for experiencing the story. I just need to finish the trilogy one day!

IGN reviewed HL2 and said it had the usual, "the story is there if you want it" approach of HL1. Now I didn't play the original, I also thought the opening of HL2 was absolutely BARNSTORMING. Amazing. Up until the point where it becomes a series of a to b dashes across varying arenas to different groups of people telling me to go to another checkpoint. I loved the battling, fantastically worked out, stuff like the antlion summoning... but after a point I thought "I've been playing this til now... been quite some time, why am I here? and what am I doing apart from running from person to person". Apparently if you go off and read newspaper clippings and whatnot, you get filled in on the entire scope of the game (and having read the wiki, its a bit "oooh!" really)... but I missed the cinematic approach of Halo. So after a while I migrated to Day Of Defeat:Source, which was again awesome battling, but I had a small and distinct reason for being there which was to have a blast with the other people and capture flags!

This is just in case anyone thinks why on earth would I favour Halo over HalfLife! Also explains why I love getting lost in MGS. Not playing to get from objective a to b, playing to experience the cinematics of it all, the tense sneaking, the set plays, the whole caboodle.

Wow... alot of ill argumented hate for a game which helps keeping the story driven sp game genre alive.

This'll be my reason to get a PS3. Less shooting, more slow sneaking ftw.

@Apologie

Gears of war 2 will beat all of those - expecially when it comes to the graphics. Trust me.

yeah mgs3 was kinda put me off the francise,the camera angle was horrendous - mgs1 however was great, it pulled me back into gaming just when I thought I was out - RIP to sameoldgen after i complete mgs4.... maybe gears2 too ..... wait, maybe a bit of sf4

@ my groupie
I didn't hear anyone saying "hate" but you. And I kinda like have groupies but careful with the "funny feelings", I'm scared of stalkers.

Hated (maybe too strong word) MGS3. I also hated myself for not being able to get into it. Having to eat every 10 minutes, applying Antidote, Seruim, Disinfectant, Ointment, Bandages, Cold Medicine, Digestive Medicine...urgh, enough!
I got alittle way past The Fury, but my attention just petered out.

I guess I'll just watch lots of youtube videos getting all the storyline from MGS3 before starting MGS4.

i get it: people with 360 and not PS3 will mostly hate MGS4. And those with PS3 might probably like it. It is a visual an technical achievement but as to the gameplay and story-line is highly subjective. I haven't played any of the MGS series but have to say I am intrigued by it. I love the fact that it fills the whole bloody Blue Ray Disc so at least I'm getting a lof for the money.

I have no such strong feelings for it. I'm kinda nihilist MGS-wise.

This and Gears of War 2 will both be better than GTA4.

Sounds EPIC.
E-fucking-PIC

lol

I reckon MGS4 will be a system seller. It fits the PS3 demographic perfectly. PS3 has proven to be the home of style over substance and MGS is the epitomy of 'looks good, shame about the gameplay'.

I thought the preview was actually somewhat negative or at least more skeptical than other previews. I mean the good stuff he writes about the game sounds gobsmackingly good, but he acknowledges that the game has flaws, is a slow burner, and that Kojima is actually getting worse at blending cutscenes and exposition with gameplay. I'd still like to play it a lot though. I mean Subsistence was one of my fave games on the PS2, but I had mixed reactions to it at first because the cutscenes dragged on really really long and were a pretty mixed bag. But replaying it on harder difficulties, skipping the cutscenes and chatter, proved to be some of the finest moments in gaming I've had in the last several years. I imagine MGS 4 will be much the same with some major pacing issues making the initial playthrough underwhelming, but will have excellent depth and replay value. Now if only there was some other reason to buy a PS3 I might actually consider it.

STKD is so angry he came into a thread just to let us know HOW MUCH HE DOESN'T WANT A KOJIMA RAPING.

I tend to stay out of threads for games that don't interest me, but anyway, thanks, STKD!

THASKTD!

Also, fake miiguel?! WTF, this place becomes more like N4G every day.

"Yes, some textures are surprisingly low-resolution; yes there are aliasing issues and flickering shadows."

Cue Fanboys

This comments thread is tragic.

I've given each one of these games a go, but each one has failed to captivate me, I never feel the need to play them for more than a few hours, after that it's all a bit of a chore. I think I got to a bit in Number 3 where there was a man with Bees shooting out of him or something :/
Basically the plot's a bit daft in my opinion, and as there's A LOT of plot being shoved on screen, I'm never really going to get into the series.
But at the same time I can appreciate that the game is right up some folk's alley, and can't deny that it has it's fanbase, I'm not saying it's shite in any way, just that it's not my bag.
So for the nobheads that say ''Ohh it would all be a different story if it was on the 360 too'' I can quite happily say, that for me it really wouldn't.

Can't wait to put my hands on it.

For the record I genuinely hope that MGS4 gets ported (and ported well, not like the dog's breakfast that was MGS2 on Xbox) to PC and 360, because more than anything else I'd hope that MGS4 is huge financial success. Hopefully there's a big clue in Jade Raymond's appearance (Ubi doing/publishing the conversions?)

I'm not a PS fanboy who'd be mad if "his" MGS should be ported to other platforms, but that'll be a lot of disk swapping on Xbox 360.
And even more, if they built MGS4 especially for PS3, porting it to the 360 will probably suck. That's just Cell. Like the Emotion Engine (don't blame ME for the name, btw), its totally different compared to a normal processor. And it will give shitty games.

And Ubisoft: they'd better focus on releasing games without bugs, lots of their games could use another few months of polish. So before taking on MGS (a series that I followed from NES to MSX to PSX, PS2 and PS3. The series is no holy grail (I've got very few of those, in my book), but they were all milestones (apart from MGS2, which I think was just only modestly good)

"My problem with MGS cinematics isn't solely the length, it's how fantastically awful the writing and acting is. If they were short, or worth watching, that'd be fine, the problem is that they're neither."

The acting is alright (Volgin was WAY over-the-top), but yeah, the writing is atrocious.

This, together with GTA 4, are the reasons why I bought a PS3. Bring it on, 12th June!

"And even more, if they built MGS4 especially for PS3, porting it to the 360 will probably suck. That's just Cell. Like the Emotion Engine (don't blame ME for the name, btw), its totally different compared to a normal processor. And it will give shitty games."

Don't get caught up in the hype. ;)

"porting it to the 360 will probably suck. That's just Cell."

Are you really so naive to believe 'teh cell' is the wonderchip it's been played up to be? We've seen proof that it isnt, over and over and over.

The reason MGS wouldnt work on the 360 is that 360 owners wouldnt put up with the crap PS3 owners lap up (i.e. a complete lack of gameplay for cutscenes)

You fanboys are really stupid, he didn't mean it in that way at all. He merly meant that when porting from such different architectures to a different machine, it takes a lot of work to get it working as well. It has nothing to do with the power of either machine. Apparently calling the Cell processer by it's name deserves some kind of fanboy backlash. "The processor that shall not be named." >_>

jeez...ive just wasted over an hour reading all these comments (I know my fault) but listen lads (or indeed ladettes) just keep saying to yourselves ' Its only a game, Its only a game, It is ONLY a game'
get my drift?
p.s i'm getting the bastard for sure ;)

It's an interesting demographic study in inception - gamers who cannot understand games where their finger isn't being pressed against a button every few micro-seconds and gamers into interactive spectacle and experience (or whatever). Which might suggest as though I'm belittling in some way the former but I'm not: the comment in the article that the cut scenes are a time out type thing interested me, some people would consider that was what the pause button is for but it appealed to me straight off, let the game itself set the pace, etc.

This review has swung me around towards buying a PS3 in a few weeks - I get to play two of the years most interesting, perhaps best, releases that way, not just one.

Sounds ok but the "You might end up frustrated with the amount of time you spend just watching Metal Gear Solid 4" means we probably will. If ever there was a game to make a film out of this is it. Kojima sounds like he could put effort into it with a little help and tell a good story instead of us expecting us to watch a game.
Hope it's good though, would like to see it finish on a high, I really enjoyed first MGS on PSone but found 2 and 3 to be completely boring myself.

I guess I'm one of the few who really enjoys the cutscenes and plot. And who thinks the games have been improving with each release. The fact that combat is no longer maddeningly impossible (ever since MGS3's gloriously fun combat) means the game is a hell of a lot less frustrating and open-ended.